Refinery Maintenance Leads To Higher Gas Prices

The cost of filling your tank for the weekend is up again this week. AAA Arizona says the statewide average price is up about 3 cents a gallon to $3.49 this week.

Spokeswoman Valerie Vineyard explains.

“A number of refineries have had to temporarily shut down in order to perform unscheduled maintenance and the switchover, definitely that was part of it and that’s applied upward pressure on prices,” Vineyard said.

The switch to summer blends of gas takes place next week on the first of May.

Despite the higher prices this week, Arizona’s average price remains about 20 cents below the national average of $3.69 a gallon.

Flagstaff has the state’s highest prices at $3.63, while Tucson has the lowest at $3.36, but those prices are up 7 cents and 2 cents respectively, since yesterday.

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